When President Bush welcomed “Palestinian” President Abbas, a terrorist also known as Abu Mazen, to the White House last week, this is what was gained:
#1 1949 Armistice lines as starting point of reference rather than ’67 lines.
#2 Explicit reference to Jerusalem in the phrase “Israel should not undertake any activity that…prejudice final status negotiations with regard to Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem.” It should be noted that when the not “prejudicing” final status was first introduced in Oslo that it actually meant no unilateral Israeli annexation. Unfortunately, thanks to acombination of benign and sometime intentional neglect on the part of Israeli officials the interpretation of this phrase has been asymmetrically extended beyond recognition to apply to Israeli construction while ignoring Palestinian construction.
#3 Acceptance of validity of a “terror” party running in the elections.
#4 Implicit acceptance of the PA position that the “punishment” for murdering Israelis is a day job in the PA security forces.
Minor gain for Israel:
Israel’s control of the envelope of Gaza should change only with trust. This raises an interesting question as it means that PM Sharon’s rush to retreat from the Philadelphi Corridor does not appear to be required by Mr.Bush.
Read it for yourself, folks, http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/05/20050526.html and www.imra.org.il.